addiction treatment program Archives - Page 3 of 3 - Colorado Medication Assisted Recovery

3 Benefits of Trauma-Informed Treatment for Drug Addiction

Posted on March 25, 2021 by cmarnew

When a loved one is struggling with a substance use disorder, it’s easy to think that willpower alone should be enough for them to overcome it. However, addiction is not a choice; it has been proven to be a chemical change in the brain. For many, past trauma has impacted the way they use drugs or alcohol. Trauma-informed care can help those who are struggling with addiction work through traumatic experiences and develop healthy coping skills for lifelong recovery.

How Addiction Relates to Trauma

Some individuals turn to drugs or alcohol to cope with something deeper. To get through life or trauma they’ve experienced, they numb and self-soothe to overcome feelings and thoughts that have become too burdensome. This helps them disconnect and cope, but all the while, substance abuse causes even more problems. Understanding how addiction relates to survival can help more people recover from addiction. For example, an overwhelming number of adolescents receiving treatment for substance use disorders end up having a history of trauma exposure. This alone points to trauma being a consideration factor when developing treatment plans for those dealing with addiction. It also explains why trauma-informed treatment is so necessary.

How Trauma-Informed Treatment Can Help

Trauma-informed therapy is based on the belief that a person’s substance use can be their way of coping with negative, overwhelming, or intrusive thoughts and feelings. These can be from memories, current situations, or past traumas. With these clients, safety is a high priority for therapists. Clients often experience triggering moments when learning how trauma has played a role in their lives. Through therapy that takes a trauma-informed approach, the therapist helps the client make positive connections, handle situations that have triggered drug use, and create a toolbox of strategies for overcoming trauma and avoiding substance use in the future.

Trauma-informed therapy used for substance abuse disorders involves:

A respectful, safe place to do the work
An understanding of how mental health-related issues and trauma co-exist with addiction
Leading the client to have self-compassion and self-respect instead of shame and guilt surrounding trauma and addiction
Creating healthy solutions to the identified problems
Finding ways to provide ongoing support

Three Benefits of Trauma-Informed Treatment

There are many benefits of taking this approach, but three stand out as the most helpful:

It provides holistic care
It offers a lower risk of re-traumatization
It uses well-known approaches to therapy

Trauma-informed treatment takes a holistic approach, recognizing that addiction has roots in both chemical and emotional causes. It connects recovery and resilience, trauma and addiction, so that the whole person can be treated. It can be provided in any setting and uses evidence-based information, family engagement, empowerment, and collaboration as its touchpoints for success.

Many people are exposed to trauma on some level or another in their lifetime, but taking a trauma-informed approach allows a therapist who understands how trauma affects a person to have a hand in helping a person through recovery. If someone not as informed on trauma is assisting a person, there can be accidental incidences of re-traumatization. A deeper depth of compassion and sense of safety in trauma-informed therapy helps the client feel more compelled to heal. The extra gentleness provided in these sessions is beneficial for success in recovery.

Trauma-informed treatment uses some of the primary and most evidence-backed methods of treatment available today. Not only is cognitive-behavioral therapy especially effective for co-occurring disorders involving addition and mental health, but EMDR is as well. EMDR uses rapid eye movements to desensitize clients from the negative emotions, detrimental behaviors, and possible stigmas associated with trauma and addiction. It allows clients to process the emotions surrounding their trauma so that they can create healthier behavior patterns.

Trauma-Informed Treatment at Colorado Medication Assisted Recovery

At Colorado Medication Assisted Recovery, clients can benefit from therapists who take a trauma-informed treatment approach. Understanding the symptoms of trauma, PTSD, and other related issues can help those suffering from a substance use disorder. Options such as telehealth and outpatient meet various needs, and our approaches offer a complete recovery to clients. Contact us at 833.448.0127 for more information.

How Suboxone Is Used to Treat Opioid Addiction

Posted on March 20, 2021 by cmarnew

When it comes to addiction, there are many things that a person can become addicted to. From drugs or alcohol to gambling or food, the need for help in treating addiction is real. Even when a person doesn’t abuse drugs intentionally to get high, dependence on a drug to control pain, for example, can lead to addiction. Suboxone can be used in addiction treatment programs to help individuals who are struggling with substance abuse find relief from withdrawal symptoms as they work through the underlying causes of addiction.

What Is Opioid Addiction?

After using opioids to control pain, such as after surgery or for an extended period, it is possible to become dependent on them. Eventually, a person can become addicted to the feeling of relief that opioids bring. Others who are seeking to get high turn to opioids and can eventually become addicted as well. Opioids contribute to over half of all deaths caused by drug overdoses in the United States, so the problem is severe and has become an epidemic.

Common opioids include:

Morphine
Codeine
Oxycodone
Hydrocodone
Oxycontin
Vicodin
Percocet

How Is It Treated?

Treating opioid addiction involves several factors. Counseling is often used to help the client cope with the emotions surrounding their pain and learn new strategies, but this alone is not enough. Most of the time, mediated opioid addiction treatment is necessary. Using an opioid replacement therapy strategy, professionals help clients overcome their dependence on the drugs by reducing the withdrawal symptoms that often make it impossible to quit in the first place.

The steps a client typically undergoes, which can occur independently of each other or as a combined process, involve:

Detoxification
Therapy
Medicated treatment
Utilizing ongoing coping strategies

To be the most effective, rehabilitation is encouraged for a period of greater than 90 days. This helps reduce the risk of relapse.

Medicated-Assisted Treatment

During the medicated treatment period, clients are given medicine to reduce the severity of withdrawal symptoms. These medications help without the added adverse effects brought on by opioids. Some drugs also help with cravings experienced during detox. This type of treatment cannot occur without consulting a professional, so it is imperative to seek help. Medications such as Suboxone can reduce the duration and severity of withdrawal symptoms.

What Is Suboxone?

Suboxone is one medication that can be used in the treatment of opioid addiction. It is made up of buprenorphine and naloxone, which work together to decrease the severity of withdrawal symptoms and reduce an individual’s dependence on opioids. It can block the effects of opioids and make an individual in recovery less likely to relapse. It can also help manage chronic pain, which is one reason why some individuals abuse opioids. Suboxone treatment is always complemented by therapy and counseling.

How Does Suboxone Help with Opioid Addiction Treatment?

Suboxone lowers the effects of opioid withdrawal symptoms and cravings. It has a lower potential for abuse than methadone, which is another commonly used medication in opioid treatment programs. Some of the most common opioid withdrawal symptoms that Suboxone can help relieve include:

Stomach cramping
Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea
Frequent chills
Muscle tension
Sleep-related issues
Disruptive aches and pains
Heart palpitations
Intense cravings

Suboxone can be incredibly effective in helping those with opioid addictions maintain recovery long-term.

Opioid Addiction Treatment at Colorado Medication Assisted Recovery

Getting treatment for opioid addiction is possible at Colorado Medication Assisted Recovery. Here, clients can benefit from therapists who vary their treatment approach based on both proven techniques and medical intervention. Understanding the different ways to treat opioid addiction and how medication can help manage withdrawal symptoms means that we can provide a complete recovery to clients. Visit our website or contact us at 833.448.0127 for more information.

Press Release: Colorado Medication Assisted Recovery’s Clinical Director Interviewed for Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly

Posted on March 8, 2021 by cmarnew

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Colorado Medication Assisted Recovery’s Clinical Director Interviewed for Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly

Denver, CO: In a recent article in Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly, Michael Damioli, the clinical director of Colorado Medication Assisted Recovery, offers his perspective on the future of telehealth in the field of addiction treatment.

Medications that can treat opioid use disorder, such as buprenorphine, were once only available through in-person inpatient or outpatient treatment. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has propelled addiction treatment centers such as Colorado Medication Assisted Recovery to open up telehealth treatment options. In Damioli’s view, this will pave the way for more comprehensive telehealth treatment options in the future.

“The telehealth door has been opened,” Damioli notes. While remote treatment for substance use disorder may have been prompted by the pandemic, telehealth is seen as an option that will only continue to grow in years to come. Even as treatment centers begin to return to in-person sessions, telehealth can help those addicted to opioids continue medication-assisted treatment long-term.

About Colorado Medication Assisted Recovery: Colorado Medication Assisted Recovery is Colorado’s only licensed outpatient addiction treatment center that offers integrated medical, clinical, and pharmaceutical services. To learn more, reach out to their treatment center at 855.454.4003 today.

How Do You Find A Good Addiction Treatment Program

Posted on October 10, 2020 by cmarnew

Finding a good addiction treatment program for you or your loved one can be an overwhelming process. Due to the time, money, and energy an individual and or a family channel toward substance use disorder treatment, it’s crucial to find the right treatment. With so many addiction treatment programs and rehab to choose from, it can be challenging to choose one that provides the highest quality of care or suits your needs or that of your loved one. However, if you do your research and ask the right questions, you can find the right addiction center in Colorado. For more information about an acceptable addiction treatment center, contact Colorado Medication Assisted Recovery at 833.448.0127.

Why Drug Rehab Accreditation Matters

A good outpatient treatment program will be accredited by external regulatory bodies such as The Joint Commission or the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities(CARF). The regulatory bodies subject addiction treatment facilities to rigorous vetting to ensure that they meet a certain level of evidence-based care. For this reason, accreditation serves as quality assurance and a level of protection to consumers of an addiction center.

Team of Qualified Staff

An addiction treatment program needs to incorporate a multi-disciplinary addiction treatment staff to help deal with issues from different angles. Having a mix of professionals in an addiction program can be handy. It allows you and the treatment team to create an individualized treatment plan to help uncover and address a wide array of issues.

A multi-disciplinary team may consist of:

Chemical dependency counselor
Medical doctor
Nurse
Psychiatrist
Psychologist
Nutritionist
Wellness specialist
Spiritual care counselor

In addition, all team members should be licensed and accredited to practice in a particular discipline. When the clinical staff has adequate credentials and licenses, it is an indication that they meet the nationally recognized standards of professional practice.

Thorough Assessment and Treatment

A good addiction treatment center begins with a reliable and thorough screening. The screening can identify the specific substance use disorders and other underlying physical and mental health conditions. What follows is a comprehensive analysis of substance use history and any related disorders. The team does this all to uncover the interrelated factors that may affect the functioning of the patients. It is also instrumental in assessing the readiness of the patient to change. A comprehensive analysis will be able to address all aspects of someone’s life, which otherwise would compromise their recovery process.

Integrated Treatment Approach

Once the clinical staff has identified any co-occurring disorders following the screening, a good program incorporates a holistic approach. This treatment approach addresses these concerns. As such, this program aims at treating the patient as a whole, which improves the likelihood of substance use disorder recovery and minimizes the chances of relapse. A comprehensive addiction program should, at least, include:

Addiction is a condition that affects the entire family. Therefore, it becomes important for families to heal. With family therapy, they learn how to overcome the chaos they had to go through, develop healthy boundaries, and build trust. When families are engaged in the addiction treatment program, patients tend to have better recovery rates.

Find the Right Addiction Treatment Program at CMAR

Addiction treatment therapies mark a pivotal mark in an addict’s life. Therefore, it is crucial to find a program that helps them build a solid foundation for their recovery. Our Colorado addiction treatment program utilizes clinically driven healthcare treatment. Throughout and after the treatment, we provide a caring and supportive recovery community for our recovering patients.

Let’s help you lay a foundation for lifelong recovery with our comprehensive addiction treatment program. Contact Colorado Medication Assisted Recovery today at 833.448.0127 to learn more about the programs we offer.

Early Intervention

Posted on October 2, 2020 by cmarnew

Research tells us that the most effective timing for treating opioid use disorder (OUD) & those at risk for developing one is early intervention. Intervening before the condition progresses can literally save someone’s life, & yet it’s so rarely highlighted as an important tool in the arsenal of addiction treatment.

Why is Early Intervention Such an Important Option in Opioid Treatment?

Yes, screening for opioid addiction is increasingly done in primary healthcare settings, but barriers still persist. Fewer resources, less funding, inadequate training & training opportunities, particularly for treating those with co-occurring disorders (whether it be dual addiction, mental health, and/or physical ailments). But that’s not the case at CMAR, where we understand early interventions’ range of effective, evidence-based clinical interventions, therapies, supportive services & even medications.

Contact Colorado Medication Assisted Recovery

At CMAR, we fully grasp that opioid addiction is a difficult necessary disease to beat & recover from. As opioids continue to kill more & more Americans, CMAR is here to provide the tools and services, including early intervention too. As Colorado’s most comprehensive opioid-recovery program, we empower our patients to achieve and sustain their recovery, other addictions, and all co-occurring mental health. Whether you’ve used for weeks, months, years, or decades, our drug addiction treatment center in Metro Denver, Colorado, has your solution. Whether online rehab, in-person rehab, or a mix of the two, our program can help you as does our current patients and graduates.

Learn More at www.Colorado-Recovery.com or call 833.448.0127.

Prosocial Behavior

Posted on September 25, 2020 by cmarnew

Prosocial behavior is a crucial element to successful opioid-addiction recovery, but why? Well, on July 1^st of this year, a study was published by the Department of Health & Human Services confirming that recovery from opioid addiction demands prosocial behavior. Here, we’ll explain why social interaction and general prosocial behavior so crucial to the recovery process.

Prosocial Behavior And Recovery

Primary to the recovery lifestyle is learning to live in diametric opposition to the addicted life. Since the opioid-addict is chronically insecure, judgmental, and socially isolated, recovery demands self-acceptance, changing antisocial behavior & thinking, & learning to sustain meaningful peer connections.

Group Therapy Benefits

Group therapy offers the perfect environment to learn and practice these prosocial skills by creating a place to both provide education around prosocial behavior and a place to practice and provide peer feedback to evolve prosocial skills. Similarly, peer support settings offer a space to both practice and to “put up a mirror,” learning from the mistakes of those you inherently relate with. This a huge reason why, for example, the pandemic has increased relapse and overdose rates considerably; people are more isolated, and there is a built-in justification to practice antisocial behavior.

Contact Colorado Medication Assisted Recovery

Opioid addiction is a difficult disease to recover come, but it’s necessary. As opioids continue to kill more & more American’s, CMAR is here to provide the tools and services, including prosocial behavioral development, to empower our patients to achieve and sustain their recovery from opioid-dependence, other addictions, and all co-occurring mental health. We are Colorado’s most comprehensive opioid-recovery program.

Learn More at www.Colorado-Recovery.com or call 833.448.0127.

Why It’s Necessary to Address “Co-Occurring Disorders” in Addiction Treatment

Posted on September 8, 2020 by cmarnew

According to SAMHSA, The definition of a co-occurring disorder is the “coexistence of both a mental health disorder and a substance use disorder.” Co-occurring disorders are widespread among the addicted population, with as many as 95% of addicts suffering from both addiction and mental health disorders. These statistics apply to opioid-addicted as well. At Colorado Medication Assisted Recovery, we provide treatment for co-occurring disorders in our addiction treatment center.

Co-Occurring Treatment For Opioid Addiction

Yet, almost all opioid-specific treatment providers offer no care for patients who have a co-occurring mental health condition. Even those opioid addiction treatment programs that do offer clinical services almost uniformly fail to assess for mental health conditions and only offer individual therapy or case management. This is problematic not only because they’re only treating half of an opioid addict’s problems, but because in doing so, they set patients up for relapse. Mental-health is inextricably linked to addiction, so if we don’t treat them simultaneously, it is as if we put a band-aid on a broken bone.

CMAR Treatment Approach

At CMAR, treatment begins with clinical assessments at our mental health treatment center, enabling us to identify the nature of the addiction and all co-occurring mental health disorders from the start. Patients then engaging in intensive, comprehensive counseling services to address and resolve all underlying issues. Simultaneously, our medical team provides addiction medicine and psych services to ensure well-rounded and sustainable patient recovery. Learn more at CMAR and call 833.448.0127.

Why CMAR Integrates Structured Therapy

Posted on September 3, 2020 by cmarnew

Over the last few years, opioid treatment providers, and programs of all sorts have begun offering increased services. Some offer case management, some offer individual therapy programs, and some even offer peer-support groups. Yet no program in Colorado, until Colorado Medication Assisted Recovery, had ever integrated the services; they’ve always been “ancillary offerings.”

Our Addiction Treatment Program

At CMAR, we designed an addiction treatment program, which rejects the notion that medication can ever be the central component of someone’s recovery. Addiction cannot be treated with a pill alone because it is the combination of a physical and mental disorder. Thus, medication is often necessary, but never the central guiding force. The central feature of effective opioid addiction treatment is therapy and peer-support. Therapy provides necessary psychoeducation, affords patients an opportunity to process emotional dysfunction, resolves trauma, reduces the impact of mental health conditions, helps generate healthy coping mechanisms, and builds trust.

Opiate Addiction Treatment

So what’s the most effective way for opiate addiction treatment programs to approach treatment? Well, it’s to use medications within a broader intensive outpatient/outpatient therapy experience. For someone to start and remain a patient at CMAR, we don’t demand that they take medications to assist their recovery. We believe it’s a hugely effective and helpful component, but we do not mandate it. What is necessary at CMAR is participation in group therapy programs and individual therapy programs. These settings are opportunities for CMAR patients to achieve sustainable resolution for their addiction and co-occurring mental health conditions. Learn more at CMAR or call us at 833.448.0127.